The mother of a 15-year-old student at an alternative high school in Connecticut says she's suing because her son was strip searched.
Heidi Burwell, the mother of a Pine Academy student, says her son was allegedly forced to remove his clothing after being accused of stealing money from a teacher this week...
Attorney Robert Berke says the school's principal ordered a strip search that was conducted in a restroom by two male teachers. The missing money was not found.
In theory, this wouldn't happen in California. Ed code Section 49050 states:
49050. No school employee shall conduct a search that involves:
(a) Conducting a body cavity search of a pupil manually or with an instrument.
(b) Removing or arranging any or all of the clothing of a pupil to permit a visual inspection of the underclothing, breast, buttocks, or genitalia of the pupil.
If you're dealing with theft and need to resort to such extremes, call in law enforcement.
Our second story involves an activity mentioned before here on RotLC, that of teenagers' taking nudie pics of themselves and sending said pics around via cell phone. This story, though, has the added twist that cheerleaders are involved.
The parents of two Seattle-area high school cheerleaders are suing the district for suspending the girls from the squad after nude photographs of them circulated via text message...
The lawsuits, filed on Nov. 17, say the district violated the girls' due process rights, according to the paper. The families allege it was unnecessary for school officials to share the photos with other staff members, and claim they were negligent in failing to report the matter to police as a potential case of child pornography.
I'm trying to figure out why the school needs to get involved at all, if none of the activity was done at school. As for what the girls did--*sigh*.
I can see suspending the cheerleaders from the squad. Cheerleaders, athletes, speech & drama students, band & choir students represent their schools and, if it's in the school handbook, inappropriate behavior that makes the school/team look bad (even out of school) can be cause for removal. Our beginning of the season sports parent/student meetings always started with the "You are the face of the school outside of this community so don't embarrass us" speech.
ReplyDeleteThere are always those kids who seek to reinforce their status as above and beyond the rules or laws. I teach in a district that has some very wealthy families. Most of these kids are nice, but some push it to the limit and their parents support this through tacit approval or active litigation. Keg parties, "safe" places for sex, unsupervised coed sleepovers-it's just accepted as normal. And some of the parents have the attitude that if they say no, the kids will just do it anyway. Nude pics are more of the same. When searching for the myspace for my son's band in order to go to a performance, I came across several photos of underage kids drinking, smoking, and generally acting out. If these can be found by someone like me, who doesn't actively seek it, then such photos can be found by others. I cannot imagine on what planet sending nude photos of yourself is seen as "cute".
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